In the US in 2020 this has meant the 25th bachelor was the first ever Black bachelor. The 2021 The Bachelor Australia, for example, was its lowest rating season, with the finale only attracting half the viewers of previous seasons.Ĭasting diversity appears to be a key part of this strategy. It is, however, hard not to see all this as a strategic move to attract younger viewers on the part of a franchise with rapidly dwindling ratings, that is struggling to compete with more contemporary series.
Osher Günsberg, The Bachelorette Australia’s host, is certainly self-congratulatory in his opening dialogue, asserting that Blurton’s presence on the show is a groundbreaking moment of representation.
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If You Are The One and The Bachelor know how to get to us: we all fear dying alone Blurton herself is also presented on multiple occasions making comparisons between the “boys” and the “girls”.Ĭertainly conventional perceptions around gender are still held by contestants and casting, such as surprise about the women being romantically “bold”, and the casting of only very stereotypically feminine women as suitors (in contrast, a fan favourite and finalist in Tila Tequila’s show was a relatively butch lesbian firefighter). The first episode sees the male and female contestants grouped in separate gazebos, and multiple comments are edited in that highlight the various insecurities about having more than one gender in the mix.
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There are signs, however, that the series is setting up a men vs women narrative regardless of this. This emphasises the unfortunately common perception that bisexuals need to “pick a team”, and furthermore, that audiences should feel personally invested in what “team” that might be. The game structure even leveraged one woman and one man into the finale for Tequila to pick between. In these series both male and female contestants were placed onto teams to compete for Tequila, who rose to fame as the most popular person on MySpace. Perhaps the earliest reality dating series to feature both male and female contestants vying for a bisexual (female) lead was A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila (2007) and its 2008 sequel. A recent example can be found in season 8 of MTV reality dating show Are You The One? (MTV 2019), which cast 16 male and female contestants who all identified as sexually fluid. The casting of bisexual contestants can be seen to add an extra set of dimensions and complications. In terms of reality dating television, as could perhaps be expected, representation of bisexuality has tended to emphasise sex. And neither of them were defined purely by their sexuality. Both of these characters built meaningful relationships with both men and women over the course of their seasons. In the last few years we have seen two really positive representations emerge in the form of Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn 99 and David Schitt on Schitt’s Creek. Neither of these positions take bisexuality particularly seriously as an identity. And it is well established by decades of research that television representation plays a role in informing attitudes towards LGBTIQ+ individuals. Of course, the stereotypes and issues surrounding representing bisexuality are different from, say, those surrounding gay men.
Is this indeed the case? The volume and quality of representation we have seen of LGBTIQ+ individuals, characters and communities has undoubtedly improved, though it is still rare enough for each one to be notable. One contestant even says “we’re doing so much for our community” in the second episode. Having both male and female suitors was sold as a groundbreaking moment of representation. Such casting necessitates a first for the franchise - casting both male and female contestants to vie for Blurton’s affections. In its latest iteration, The Bachelorette Australia (Network 10 2021) is attempting to offer something refreshingly different through the casting of Brooke Blurton, a First Nations bisexual woman.
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Reality TV staple The Bachelor, and its various franchises, has been described as a “primetime harem fantasy” even though it ultimately presents a fairly conservative portrait of romance.